tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13096878.post4378231742405086671..comments2015-01-17T12:55:43.573-05:00Comments on NewBlackMan (in Exile): Denzel Washington, Flight and ‘New Negro Exceptionalism’CADCEnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13096878.post-43254730055169888672013-01-17T11:53:11.454-05:002013-01-17T11:53:11.454-05:00And now on the essay itself: Usame, Kudos on a nee...And now on the essay itself: Usame, Kudos on a needed essay. I like how you touch on various external forces acting on Denzel&#39;s character but keep the focus on his need for personal agency and growth independent of and in response to those forces. Your attention to the interaction of transgenerational social dynamics and internal spiritual struggles raises important questions! I saw many of the things my grandfather, father and I no doubt have had to navigate. And your references to the real forms of institutional and structural injustice that black folks continue to confront in this country shows an understanding of the holistic approach needed to have a responsible conversation on these issues. <br /><br />I would, however, also like to see further dialog on some of those political and sociological pressures that black men and women of Whip&#39;s generation and beyond continue to face in terms of identity and the desire for exceptionalism. Why is it that a Black person&#39;s humanity is still not considered default in America? Why does he/she feel the need to be either the New Negro or the Hip Hop activist/confessor? Why does he/she constantly have to prove his own worth? And what distances are some people willing to go to find what is ultimately a highly conditional form of acceptance? What is the cost for having to live and die in such such a psychically heavy atmosphere--and are their healthy ways to both resist and escape?<br /><br />This insightful essay now has me hungry for a discussion of how the public space acts as an inherently hostile environment, one where the very existence of the black male is problematic.<br /><br />Thank you again for starting this valuable conversation.Khaliff Watkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10257118073250683138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13096878.post-39791862838726184062013-01-17T11:34:16.262-05:002013-01-17T11:34:16.262-05:00Dr. Desir, I really like your point about the fear...Dr. Desir, I really like your point about the fear of death for Black men and women of Whip&#39;s generation. On one level the extremely high cost of resisting, self-defining, and re-self-defining would be very much in the front of their minds. I also feel that the weight of needing to be a black shinning prince in the eyes of other African Americans would also weigh on somebody like Whip. This makes me think of today&#39;s &quot;Post Blackness&quot; introduced by writers like Toure&#39; where young African American men and women are saying they don&#39;t feel comfortable with the New Negro (WII generation), Black Shining Prince (my father&#39;s Generation), or the Hip Hop Activist/Confessor (my generation) archetypes. The issues you and Usame draw attention to in Whip&#39;s character helps me to see this phenomenon of &quot;Post-Blackness&quot; in a new light. I have empathy for what I think are the human needs behind it. At the same time, I find it extremely problematic in how it, at least in my cursory reading, seeks to distance itself from narratives of resistance and struggle against oppression and occupy some kind of &quot;race neutral&quot; or &quot;racially agnostic&quot; position. It&#39;s almost as though they are looking at Whip and saying, I don&#39;t want carry all that weight--but may be instead picking up a different kind of baggage. Sorry for responding directly to comment. My response to the essay itself follows. <br /> Khaliff Watkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10257118073250683138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13096878.post-43885356682325548402013-01-16T16:28:54.003-05:002013-01-16T16:28:54.003-05:00Usame, good essay. Very glad to hear from you. My ...Usame, good essay. Very glad to hear from you. My remarks concern the the temporal and political gap between the two generations cited: The New Negro (Whip&#39;s father) and HipHop (Whip&#39;s son). What about Whip&#39;s generation? He didn&#39;t exist in a conceptual bubble. <br /><br />Whip would have been deeply influenced by the Black Power Movement among others that transpired in his lifetime. It&#39;s funny you mention Malcolm X, who for many in the US, represented the emergence of a new model for Black manhood, &quot;...a prince -- our own black shining prince!&quot; to quote my late father-in-law Ossie Davis. El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) was empowered; worldly; urbane; defiant; bold and bigger than life because he was unafraid of death. And death was/is a huge factor in the collective Black psyche. Consider all the lynchings, beating, unwarranted arrests and incarcerations that continued well past the passage of the 13th amendment (which actually ended slavery contrary to what is suggested in another Hollywood movie, &quot;Lincoln&quot;.) Think about the physical, sexual and medical abuse of so many women whose names are unknown. Both public and private, these violations of Black civil and human rights continued well past the mid-20th Century. <br /><br />The numerous assassinations of Black leaders, ostensibly successful because of the positions they held, were also deemed dangerous and therefore lynched (with a bullet not a rope): Patrice Lumumba; Medgar Evers; Martin Luther King, Jr; Steve Biko; Amilcar Cabral; and Thomas Sankara are all tragic examples of what happened to those Black folk who dared to renew, redefine and reinvent themselves in the face of structural racism, colonialization and imperialism. An intelligent and thoughtful man, Whip&#39;s character surely would have factored the struggles and heroism of these individuals in his fragmented mediations on exile, self imposed and otherwise. <br /><br />Your reading of his complex humanity might be enhanced though this lens. Looking forward to continued dialog. Dowoti Desirhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470925882491772145noreply@blogger.com